Tag: mac basketball

Report: Jim Whitesell is out at Buffalo

Buffalo is joining the fray as they part ways with their head coach per Jon Rothstein.

This feels like Black Monday the day after the NFL’s regular season ends. There are plenty of changes being made across the collegiate landscape in men’s basketball. Buffalo has joined the coaching carousel according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

Rothstein reports that the Buffalo Bulls have parted ways with Jim Whitesell. Whitesell has been the head coach since 2019 after being promoted from an associate head coach.

In four seasons with Buffalo, the long-time head coach was 70-49 and 45-27 in MAC play. This was the first season in his tenure where Whitesell didn’t finish with a winning record. Prior to joining Buffalo, he was an assistant with Saint Louis from 2011 to 2013 and St. John’s from 2013 to 2015.

This is another program that will have a new head coach in charge of a program when the 2023-24 season tips off in November. Already we have seen St. John’s, Georgetown, and Georgia Tech make moves with their head coaches in the last couple of days.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=59]

[mm-video type=video id=01gv659ce3mmrxaedsyr playlist_id=01gq2fszf7mxxc88k4 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gv659ce3mmrxaedsyr/01gv659ce3mmrxaedsyr-ae5a532bb376c4598d131c1990b76f98.jpg]

Watch: Buzzer-Beater Allows Notre Dame to Win Fifth Straight

notre dame uses miracle to escape with fifth-straight win on hardwood

It certainly wasn’t a masterpiece but for those who took it in it was memorable as Notre Dame improved to 5-1 on the season after a borderline miraculous comeback against Toledo just to force overtime before winning in the extra frame.

Trailing by three with 6.8 seconds remaining Prentiss Hubb missed a free throw that was rebounded by Dane Goodwin who missed a put back before another offensive rebound by John Mooney and a quick kick-out found Temple Gibbs for the potential tie.

And Gibbs shot got stuck between the basket and backboard, forcing a jump-ball with just 1.5 seconds remaining.

The good news was that the possession arrow belonged to Notre Dame so they at least had a chance, which they would take full advantage of.

Nate Laszewski was shooting just 12.5% from beyond the arc entering Thursday night and at one point saw his season total dip to just 2 of 20 (10%) from three-point-range.  He however stepped perfectly into the in-bounded bounce back and drilled the game-tying three as regulation expired, forcing overtime.

The Irish controlled things in OT as they didn’t allow a field goal until a meaningless, yet impressive buzzer-beater as the frame expired, escaping by the skin of their teeth with a 64-62 victory.

It was a night that very little went right for the Irish, shooting just 31.5% from the field and 8 of 35 from downtown (22.9%).  Factor in going just 10 of 17 from the free throw line and the victorious escape is that much more stunning.

Goodwin led the way for Notre Dame with 16 points.  Mooney who has been terrific this season missed Monday’s game against Presbyterian due to a stomach-virus and was just 3-of-11 from the field while scoring seven points.

Notre Dame returns to action Tuesday night when they host Farleigh Dickinson.